1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to intelligent electronic devices for electrical power systems, and more particularly, to an intelligent electronic device having an XML-based graphical interface for displaying data sensed and generated by the intelligent electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric utility companies (“utilities”) track electric usage by customers by using power meters. These meters track the amount of power consumed at a particular location. These locations range from power substations, to commercial businesses, to residential homes. The electric utility companies use information obtained from the power meter to charge its customers for their power consumption, i.e. revenue metering.
A popular type of power meter is the socket-type power meter, i.e., S-base or Type S meter. As its name implies, the meter itself plugs into a socket for easy installation, removal and replacement. Other meter installations include panel mounted, switchboard mounted, and circuit breaker mounted. Typically the power meter connects between utility power lines supplying electricity and a usage point, namely a residence or commercial place of business.
A power meter may also be placed at a point within the utility's power grid to monitor power flowing through that point for distribution, power loss, or capacity monitoring, e.g., a substation. These power and energy meters are installed in substations to provide a visual display of real-time data and to alarm when problems occur. These problems include limit alarms, breaker control, outages and many other types of events. Conventionally, the visual display includes numerical information and/or an alarm indication, e.g., a LED, LCD, etc., on the face of the meter. To determine the specific type and/or cause of the alarm, a user may have to scroll through numerous lines of information, inspect the actual piece of equipment relating to the alarm or review the alarm information at a headend of a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system which may be in a different location from the meter. All of these scenarios will delay rectifying the problem and may increase downtime of a consumer receiving the power. Once the problem is identified, the user will have to retrieve correction procedures and/or equipment manuals to rectify the problem causing further delays.
Furthermore, conventional power meters only display information or indicate alarms pertaining to the individual power meter having the display. Typically, a substation includes numerous power meters at various locations making it difficult to get readings from each of the power meters with similar time parameters. To date, the only way to get an idea of system reliability and telemetry at a substation is to install a dedicated personal computer running a SCADA application. However, SCADA systems are costly and personal computers are susceptible to failure in substation environments.
Therefore, a need exists for devices, systems and methods for displaying data sensed and generated by an intelligent electronic device (IED), a power meter, and for displaying the data of a plurality of IEDs at any individual IED.